My eye was drawn to a packet of mail on the kitchen island at the ranch house this evening.
It was a catalog, just a catalog, but the cover art was the thing that caught my eye.
The cover was just another example of the humorous images Duluth Trading likes to use. Humorous but with a point -- the company has a full line of clothing for working men. I suspect they sell a lot of wares to other folks as well.
To most eyes the image was just advertising. Most of the folks I know would have a hard time identifying what was going on. Some nekkid dude, some flying thingie.
I got to shoot under instruction a couple of times. That means I was the Shooter's puppet. I went through all the motions and I knew what I was doing, but every move was under the DIRECT control of the Shooter. It was a lot of fun and I learned a hell of a lot (lots of study and a 100 percent on the written were required) but the Shooter had all the responsibility. Which was as it should be.
There are some interesting anomalies in the image which make it stand out. Chief among them an old jet (F9F Panther, Grumman Iron BTW) (and of course it's a Cougar, innit?) on a new deck. There are others. I think it's a great image and the anomalies make it exceedingly interesting to look at. I may have to buy some of those air conditioned drawers.
Oh wait, I already did!
A brief internet prowl turned up this cover image from a few years back.
A bunch of cool anomalies there, too. Interesting.
This is pretty much the only place I share my military background. Most folks don't have a frame of reference, and once you get past "noisy, cool, scary, fast, and drunk" you might as well be talking about band camp.
Hardly anything I do as I go about my life is in any way connected with my service or with the military. Every once in a while the past pops up unexpectedly though, and when it does it's kind of cool.
Another great day of fencing in the books.
Got 4 hops in TF9 when at VT-10 in P'cola.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's a Cougar in the image, isn't it?
DeleteThe wings are swept, so that is a Cougar. That looks like a F7F Tigercat drop tank. I believe that the Navy had transitioned to actual hard helmets for pilots by 1947, but could be wrong. Shouldn't the edges of the main gear doors be painted red? The fuselage of the Corsair is entirely too clean of oil. The cannons don't look right, for come reason. The guys around the Corsair are not wearing Yellow jerseys, and the shooter should be wearing yellow shorts.
DeleteThere are dozens (at least) of little bits that don't add up. I'm not complaining, makes the image endlessly interesting. Particularly the 20mm's sticking out of the Bearcat wing intake on that Corsair.
DeleteThe orange wing and tail tips would seem to indicate a Naval Reserve aircraft, so there should also be an orange fuselage band, as well.
ReplyDeleteMust've been painted on a Monday after a squadron-wide seventy-two.
DeleteWhy is the Shooter standing on a bomb elevator?
ReplyDeleteThat is one funky flight deck.
DeleteGood stuff Shaun. I had to Google the differences between the Panther and the Cougar, then it was an "oh yeah, now I remember" moment. Had a model of the Panther when I was a lad.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm guilty of wearing my military experience on my sleeve, so to speak, I actually have my stripes pinned to the lanyard of my security badge. (It's one of the rank pins we used to wear on the collar of our light jacket, one port, one starboard, God knows what they wear now.)
But I do work for a defense contractor so the military stuff is still a day to day thing. And yes, my time in the service is what defines me, pretty much. I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam. (To misappropriate a Popeye quote. The sailorman, not the chicken place. Though their chicken is pretty good.)
Mmmm. Popeye's!
DeleteHeh, I was bein' all Mr. Naval Aviation Expert and misidentified the Cougar as a Panther. At least I got the Grumman right!
There are quite a few vets around here (the Chief of Police is a Roof Rat, former AME, and iirc was with VF-2 when they drove Turkeys) but not many opportunities to hang out and talk vet stuff, so much of the time the past kinda drops out of existence, the toil of the present being sufficient unto the day as it were. When it does pop up it's a delight. I can waste a lot of valuable fence fixin' time over at the air patch when a T-28 shows up, and I never fail to look up and watch when the "WHOP-WHOP-WHOP" announces Hueys on patrol.
How the heck did I miss this post? Asleep at the switch, I was. I always look up when I hear an aircraft about. Even if it's a tail-dragging putt-putt. I guess that I haven't order anything from Duluth in so long that I'm no longer on their mailing list.
ReplyDeletePaul L. Quandt
I'm puzzled by folks who don't look up. Not that they're doing anything wrong, I just can't imagine not looking.
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